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This new Belleville restaurant wants you to feel like you’re back at grandma’s table

Christi Robertson is ready for the plunge.

She’s diving into the restaurant scene with C and C Food for Your Soul at 225 N. Illinois St., just two blocks from downtown Belleville’s Public Square.

Robertson expects to have her soul and comfort food restaurant open by late summer or early fall. Fried chicken, a jumbo burger, meatloaf, oxtail, smothered pork chops, black-eyed peas, sweet tea and macaroni and cheese are some of the items she plans to offer in the restaurant, which can seat up to 35 people.

“I’m bringing not just soul food to your table, I’m bringing food for your soul,” Robertson said. “I want you to feel like you’re sitting at grandmother’s table when you come in.”

Robertson said customers will find a “Southern flair” to the menu.

A jazz brunch with live music is planned for Sundays. Lunch and dinner will be offered Wednesdays through Fridays. On Saturdays, she plans to open for breakfast as well as lunch and dinner.

The “C and C” in her restaurant’s name comes from her first name and that of her daughter Christin, who is a senior at Belleville West High School.

Robertson grew up in East St. Louis and worked at her father’s hamburger and ice cream stand in East St. Louis, but this is the first time she will own a restaurant. She works as a public safety dispatcher for Saint Louis University.

“This has just been a dream of mine, and I’m like, ‘Let’s do it, let’s do it,’” she said. “You have to step out and do what you have to do.”

The restaurant is planned for a vacant storefront along North Illinois Street. Robertson and her family have been busy renovating the space, which is along the section of North Illinois Street that recently was overhauled with new sidewalks, pavement and lighting. Parking is available directly behind the restaurant as well as on C Street and in a city parking lot at the intersection of B and Illinois streets.

Information is available on the restaurant’s page on Facebook and at the website at candcfoodforyoursoul.com.

Mike Koziatek: 618-239-2502, @MikeKoziatekBND

Metro East Eats

"The Christi knows her way around Soul Food and she has such a wonderful spirit".